Women judges, gender justice and law of procedure in medieval Islamic law and contemporary Palestine

INVITATION from the Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies at the University of Copenhagen, to a Carsten Niebuhr Lecture at the David Collection by the lecturer, Irene Schneider.
The lecture in English will take place at the museum on Thursday, September 14, 2023, at 3 p.m. to 4.30 p.m. Free entrance, but you must register your attendance to jsp@hum.ku.dk

The question of how to achieve justice is central to every society and is reflected in the organization of the legal system. The lecture deals with jurisprudence and procedural law in the early Islamic period (from the beginning to the 13th century) and then turns the comparative view to the situation today in Palestine. For the early period, I will focus on questions such as: How did the ideal qādī/judge look like? Is Max Weber’s picture of “kadi justice,” compatible with what the Arabic sources describe? Were women allowed to become judges? And what was the ideal course of a court case according to the Sharia, the Islamic law? The question of how the situation changed in the modern era is addressed using the example of Palestine: What does it imply for Palestine that “the Sharia” is codified, that parliaments enact laws and judges must complete a set training and apply the existing laws? What is the role and position of female Sharia judges today in Palestine?

Best regards/on behalf of The Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies at the
University of Copenhagen.
Space is limited, and reservations are therefore on a first come, first served basis. Please RSVP your attendance no later than Friday, September 8, to Jakob Skovgaard-Petersen at jsp@hum.ku.dk